As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses continually seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users of information is an information handling system. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary with regard to the kind of information that is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use, including such uses as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Independent server computers may be grouped in a cluster and managed as a single system to provide a network that is characterized by higher availability, manageability, and scalability, as compared with groupings of unmanaged servers. A server cluster typically involves the configuration of a group of independent servers such that the servers appear in the network as a single machine or unit. Server clusters are managed as a single system to tolerate component failures and to support the addition or subtraction of components in the cluster in a transparent manner. At a minimum, a server cluster includes two or more servers, which are sometimes referred to as nodes, and that are connected to one another by a network or other communication links. A cluster network typically involves a shared storage network that is accessible by each node of the cluster network so that, when a node fails, a surviving node can assume the responsibilities of the failed node, including accessing the storage resources of the failed node. Shared storage, however, generally involves the use of external storage, which is expensive and requires its own set of redundant features.